Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/63

 48 History op Art in Antiquitv. On the other hand, the conditions of royal life, as it has always existed in the East, tended to give such dimensions to edifices* that had stone been exclusively used in their construction, the risk of making them too lasting would have been very great. As in Assyria, here also, each prince, on his ascending the throne, set about building him a palace that should be entirely his own, about which, too, his name and image should figure plentifully.* But the edifice was barely commenced than he wished to see it finished, that he might have the enjoyment of it. To satisfy the royal . impatience, a quicker way of going to work was devised in artificial [ stone, burnt brick, and crude brick. The latter, whether shaped in moulds or dried in the sun, goes through almost imperceptible stages, to form pisi or beaten clay, which we see employed at the back of the ramparts of Susa, where it is used as support to the wall.* Finally, a kind of frit, almost as white as plaster, and hard as stone, was made into a pastes out of which were fashioned those squares enamelled on one side which, at Susa, and doubtless else- where, decorated the sides of staircases, the walls of porticoes or of hypostyle chambers.' If the body of the buildings was of stone and brick, of what material were lofts made? A glance at the proportions of the Persian column, its thin and airy aspect, would, almost by itself, answer the question, in that it would have been a poor support . for a stone entablature. As a matter of fact, no sign or mark of la lithic cornice or architrave has been seen on the site of Persian Structures, but towards the top of pillars and ants in good 'preservation, appear notches that could only have been cut for receiving the ends of timber pieces; whilst when we consider the arrangement of these same cranks and the size of the actual buildings, we fully realize that, far from being insignificant, these cropping up to the surfkoe in the acceanble parts of Western Persia, there only occurs the granite of Kocfld, between Ispahan and Teheran, whilst the trachytic and porphyritic rocks of Demawend are still further removed from Fars, Granting the configuration of the Iranic territory, and the absence of carriage roads, it is self- evident that building materials coold not be fetched fiom mch distances. The quarries whence were obtained the stones oat of which the palaces at Persepolis were made are well within a mile of the platform upon which they stand, whilst the blocks introduced in the edifices of Snsa were found at a distance of a few miles (Notes handed in by M. Houssay). Digitized by Google
 * HisL ffArtt torn. ii. p. 42 1.
 * DiBULATOY, Fniffl4s 4* Stuff iompagiu de 18S5, 1886, Rt^pott, pp. 3s, 33.
 * md., p. 17.